


Blue Monday

by pure_shores



Series: You Were Red and You Liked Me Because I Was Blue [2]
Category: Crankiplier - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adulting, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M, No Smut, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and end up making content lol, crankiplier - Freeform, serious talk, the boys have to make a big decision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24239314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pure_shores/pseuds/pure_shores
Summary: The boys are in post-Disney World bliss when Mark is called in for a Serious Meeting with his management. Something is spreading around the internet about them and they need to have a Serious Relationship Talk and decide what to do about it.
Relationships: Mark Fischbach/Ethan Nestor
Series: You Were Red and You Liked Me Because I Was Blue [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742731
Comments: 14
Kudos: 146





	Blue Monday

**Author's Note:**

> I'm baaaaaaack!  
> Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back everyone!  
> If you haven't read the first part in the series, 'And Suddenly I Was A Lilac Sky', I highly recommend it because this oneshot won't make much sense otherwise. Cheers!  
> As always, this is a work of fiction and Mark and Ethan are happily in relationships so don't bug them about fanfiction/crankiplier, kay? Good. Enjoy!

A few days after they’d both arrived back from Disney World, Ethan received an odd text from Mark. He’d been out doing some grocery shopping when he heard the ping of his phone alerting him to the notification, but hadn’t read the message until he got his bags back to his car. Sitting in the driver’s seat, he opened up the message and stared at it for a few seconds, his heart beginning to pick up its pace.

_ ‘Hey. Just got back from a meeting with my manager and lawyers. Can we meet at mine?’ _

With an almost audible gulp, Ethan replied back, ‘Okay, sure. I’ll be there in half an hour, gotta put some groceries away back home. Should I be worried? x’ He waited for Mark’s response, which didn’t help to ease his nerves one little bit.

_ ‘We’ll speak when you get here, okay? See you soon.’ _

Ethan sure as hell didn’t have a good feeling about this. Why had Mark had to speak to his management team? That was usually for serious matters that Mark hated talking about - “grown-up stuff”, he called it. What sort of super serious issues had they talked about? He forced himself to take a deep breath, closing his eyes and plugging the AUX cord into his phone. There was no point working himself up about whatever it was. For all he knew, they could have been talking about Unus Annus! Maybe they’d wanted Mark’s opinion first and then wanted to bring Ethan in to meet with him too. It could be anything. He was just catastrophising before even having any solid information, as usual. Starting up his driving playlist, Ethan plugged his seatbelt in and headed for his apartment, then packed away his groceries when he got there. Spencer danced at his heels as he worked, his stuffed giraffe dangling from his teeth and tail wagging erratically. After setting out a fresh bowl of water and a chew treat for him, he gave him a kiss on the top of his head before leaving the apartment once more. The amount of time he and Mark spent going back and forth between each other’s homes was unthinkable and, really, it would be far easier and less time consuming if they lived together. As he drove over to Mark’s house, he shook that thought from his mind - too soon.  _ Far _ too soon. Hell, only a few days ago he’d told the man that he loved him. He needed to slow down a little, they had the rest of their lives to do everything properly. However, the traitorous, teeny tiny voice at the back of his head whispered to him that life was short and they should make the most of it whilst they were alive. Which  _ was _ also a very fair point. No one ever knew what was going to happen tomorrow - if there  _ was _ a tomorrow. That’s what Unus Annus was all about, after all!

When he arrived at Mark’s house, Ethan parked his car in front of the garage and locked it, then headed to the front door. Knocking, he waited for a few seconds, hearing Chica barking inside, and then the door swung open and there was Mark to let him in. (He always had a key to Mark’s house on him, but he didn’t like to just swan in like he owned the place.) “Hey babe,” Ethan greeted with a warm smile, not giving any hint that he’d been nervous ever since Mark had texted him earlier. He stepped forward and placed a hand on his hip, leaning up just slightly to kiss him. It was a brief kiss because Mark pulled back, giving a tight smile - the sight had his stomach dropping with worry. Something was wrong… that was for sure.

“Hey,” he said softly, taking his hand instead and giving it a gentle squeeze, “Let’s go and sit down, yeah?”

Ethan nodded slowly, unsure as to what exactly was going on since Mark was being a little shifty, but he was reassured to have his hand resting in his. That, at least, was some comfort in this sea of uncertainty. He was ushered inside, the door closed behind him, and they moved to the den. Once there, Mark sat with him on the sofa and they ended up face to face, legs crossed beneath them, both hands joined together. He tried getting some hints from the older man’s face as to what he was thinking or feeling in that big ol’ brain of his… but his eyes betrayed nothing for once. It was as if there were too many things going on inside his mind that a single one of them couldn’t surface for long enough to show on his face. “So,” he said quietly, playing with Mark’s fingers and wanting to get whatever it was out in the open because he couldn’t stand the not knowing anymore, “You gonna tell me what this is all about? Because it doesn’t feel good… you’re awful quiet…”

He saw Mark inhale, the rise and fall of his chest slow and steady, before he nodded his acknowledgement, “Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s… been a weird morning. I’ve been talking to my manager and lawyers for, god,  _ hours…  _ They called me urgently and we had a meeting.” Another deep breath, and he shook his head, looking down to break eye contact, “Eth, I hate that this is a conversation that we have to have because I always swore that I’d never become one of  _ those _ people that have managers and lawyers deciding when and where they can talk to certain people or if they can buy a new house or…” He shook his head again, “I need to quit ramblin’. They called me for a meeting because someone has posted a video of us online. And it’s spreading about.”

Ethan took a moment to process his words, head tipping to one side in consideration, “A video of us? What sort of video?” They made videos together all the time, it was their job! Unless… “Wait, has someone leaked an Unus Annus video or something? Is that what this is about?”

“No no, it’s… personal,” Mark said with a sigh, “Someone saw us at Disney World. During the parade on the first night.”

Ethan nodded once more, thinking back to that wonderful night where the whole world had lit up in colour around him, and yet all he could see was Mark - the night when they’d said they loved each other. Because even though there was so much beauty and wonder happening, the most precious thing in the entire universe was Mark. And he’d needed to tell him. The fact that Mark felt the same way had lit up his heart brighter than any parade could ever be. With a frown, still somewhat lost, he gave a shrug, “I’m still not following. What exactly did they get on video?” And then it dawned on him… the only thing that Mark’s management could possibly be concerned about that had been something personal, surrounding the two of them, which happened on the first night of Disney World… was the kiss. He supposed they’d both let down their guard in the moment, assuming that no one around would know who they were or care about what they were doing. That had to be it. And the look on Mark’s face told him that it was. “It was the kiss, wasn’t it? Someone who knows who we are saw us.”

“And they posted it online, so now it’s being spread all over social media,” Mark gave a heavy sigh, rubbing his thumb across the back of Ethan’s hand, “My manager is concerned that we haven’t made an official announcement to the public that we’re together. Thinks that it could be harmful to  _ our _ image and,” he made a face, “possible career opportunities in the future if we’re not clear from the get go. They’re worried about if Unus Annus will be affected if, god forbid, things didn’t go well between us. And they want the public to be supportive so they think that this video going around will cause tension between our fans because we haven’t spoken about, well,  _ us _ in public…” His face must have morphed into something horror-stricken because Mark flinched and shuffled close to pull him into a hug, “I’m sorry, gorgeous. I wish we didn’t have to be having this conversation.”

“Yeah,” Ethan said slowly, quietly, his arms wrapping around Mark’s neck and he buried his nose in the crook of his neck, “It’s crazy… seems like you can’t do what you like without people dictating if it’s okay or not.” He pulled back, squeezing Mark’s hands and giving a small smile, “But I get it. I’ve been your friend for years and I’ve seen what can happen to people who are in the public eye that fall out of favour with their fans. We have to be careful. There’s a lot at stake here, and if we slip up your whole career could be ruined.”

Feeling Mark pull away abruptly from the hug, Ethan blinked a few times and stared at him, the lack of warmth from his body sudden and kind of jarring. Mark was looking at him like he’d lost his head and it made him feel stupid… had he said the wrong thing? “Ethan… you think I care about all of that? God, that’s not why I asked you here. Well, it kinda was, but…” He huffed at himself impatiently and, if he wasn’t so worried about what was going on right now, he may have smiled at how cute it was. “What I’m trying to say is that you’re most important to me, Eth. Yeah, my career is important too because I love what I do, but if I had to choose, it’d always be you. I wouldn’t care if I had to get a regular job if it meant we could be happy together, you know? So long as I have you, I’m happy.”

Ethan, for once, was completely speechless. See, he never really got speechless before - sometimes he’d get word vomit and wouldn’t shut up, other times he’d know what he wanted to say but his mind just jumbled up the words. But it was extremely rare for him to not know what to say. Mark, of course, had to be the exception to everything that he knew about himself - it just had to be him that brought about speechlessness that was a rarity. His eyebrows furrowed together, trying to comprehend just how he could mean  _ that much _ to someone. Yeah, he knew that Mark loved him, he’d been hearing or seeing those words in texts countless times since they’d both said them a few days ago, but to be told that he was more important than the career he’d spent years building for himself had his mind spinning. Surely it would never come to that though… Mark’s fans were great! And so were his. Everyone that watched Unus Annus was super supportive, so surely they had nothing to worry about. Mark’s management was just being over the top. The fans respected them as the real people that they were and wouldn’t cause a fuss over seeing a video of them kissing. Maybe there’d be a small minority who got a little too invested, but the majority were great and Ethan always enjoyed chatting to them whenever he got the chance! Apparently he must have gone a bit  _ too _ silent for Mark’s liking, however, because he was brought out of his thoughts by a touch to his jaw, and the voice he loved breaking through his reverie, “Eth? You still with me?”

“Yeah! Yep, sorry, I just… got lost in thought again,” he apologised with a sheepish smile, to which Mark smiled at in response, the corners of his eyes crinkling in the way that Ethan adored. “You’ve gotta give me time to process when you say things like that out of nowhere, Mark,” he laughed, letting go of one of his hands to rub at the back of his neck, “It’s kinda life-altering, ya know?” 

He watched Mark wince apologetically, though he was now grinning widely, and let out a chuckle, “Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot I’ve always had a life-changing impact on you. Started right from the beginning, huh? Meeting me was such a life-changer, I know. And every second you’ve spent with me from then onwards is constantly having an effect on you.” His voice had taken on a dude-bro tone and Ethan, groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Ugh, one day you’re gonna topple over because of that huge head,” he muttered, shuffling closer and sitting in Mark’s lap. His legs curled around his body so his feet locked together behind him on the sofa, and he saw Mark’s face change immediately as he looked up at him, eyes sparkling, hands sliding to settle on Ethan’s thighs. “Honestly though?” He looked down into Mark’s eyes and gave a warm smile, “I feel the same. I’m hyped that I have the life I do now, and some of it is thanks to you, obviously. But I would give up my channel, this lifestyle, if I had to in order to keep you. If we were just some regular joes working in sales, heading to the lake every weekend for a getaway from real life, I would still love you. At the end of the day, a job is a job. As long as I’ve got you, I can always be happy.”

The tears building at the corners of Mark’s eyes told him just how much those words meant to him, even though they were essentially the same ones he’d just said to Ethan. Leaning up, Mark captured his lips in a searing kiss, and Ethan felt his heart light up from the direct connection of love pouring into his mouth. His hands slid into the soft hair at the back of Mark’s head and he felt Mark’s hands work up under his shirt to rest on his waist. For a few moments, they were content to stay like that, enjoying the warmth of the kiss and the connection of the intimate moment. Mark broke away gently, looking up at him like he was the source of all joy, and spoke quietly, “I love you so goddamn much, Ethan Nestor.”

With a grin, Ethan leaned down and pressed their foreheads together, eyes closing, “I love you too, Mark. With everything I have.” He felt Mark take a deep breath before letting out a sigh. He chuckled and pulled back again to look at him, “That was a mighty big sigh there.”

Mark gave him a wry smile, “Yeah. We still need to make a decision about what to do about the video being out there for the world to see. People will start talking and eventually want answers. Honestly? I don’t give a fuck - it’s our business and anyone that truly respects us and our lives will leave us to it. But I’m happy with whatever you wanna do.”

Ethan’s arms moved to lock around the back of Mark’s neck once more, fingers playing with the soft, shorter hairs back there as he thought about all of the options - they could simply ignore the presence of the video on the internet and dodge questions about it, or they could confront it head on. He watched Mark, who was watching him back, and let his gaze trace over the familiar features of his face, every millimeter of him perfect and Ethan loved it. Suddenly, it dawned on him - why didn’t they make a video about it? Hell, they were YouTubers! This is what they did best! They could get fans to ask them questions for a “fake” couples’ Q&A (in the guise of being for Unus Annus) but then they could answer everything honestly, reveal that they were in fact in some sort of romantic relationship, and post it to both their channels. He could tell that something on his face was unnerving Mark a little because the man leaned back and quirked an eyebrow at him. Realising that he was grinning sort of maniacally at his own genius, he chuckled, “Sorry! I just had an idea.” As he explained it to him, it was as if a candle slowly started to burn behind his eyes and a grin of his own appeared upon his lips.

“Oh my god, Ethan, that’s perfect,” he said with enthusiasm, placing both his hands on either side of Ethan’s head and he urged him lower down to kiss his forehead, to which the younger man giggled at, “Just like  _ you’re _ perfect. God, how do you just keep getting better every day?” Mark held his face a little longer, staring into his eyes just as Ethan stared into his - those breathtaking deep brown pools that he could easily get lost in. “I do think, though, that all of this talk about us begs me to ask a question of my own, without sounding cliche as fuck… what are we, Eth?”

That question, whilst funny for its definite cliche-as-fuck origins, had him pausing - it was a good question to ask because the obvious answer, for him at least, was soulmates who were figuring each other out in a romantic sense, taking everything step by step. But no one else was going to understand what that meant - and if they were going to be doing a fake-but-actually-real couples’ Q&A, then they needed to have a straightforward answer. They were clearly more than friends and had even been on a romantic mini holiday together which had started off with love confessions. It’s almost like they’d surpassed the dating stage and gone straight to… well. Something more exclusive. Trust him and Mark to not be able to commit to taking things slowly. But, he supposed, they were moving at a pace that they were both comfortable with, otherwise things would have been going wrong. And this had all felt so  _ right _ so far. Plus, they’d already known each other for years, and he was most comfortable with Mark than anyone else. “I think we both know what we  _ should _ be right now, but we haven’t asked each other,” he decided on saying, giving a cheeky grin, “So I think you should ask me before someone else comes along to claim me.”

“Oh, you think  _ I  _ should ask?” Mark exclaimed, eyebrows shooting up towards his hairline, already knowing exactly which question he was referring to, “Maybe I want  _ you _ to ask  _ me _ . I’m a catch, Ethan, there’s a queue at my door waiting for you to slip up at any moment. You better move fast.”

Whilst Ethan usually would have been insecure about comments such as those, he just laughed and pressed his face into Mark’s neck, “I’ve got no competition to worry about - you love me.” And it was true. He’d seen the look on Mark’s face each time he said he loved him in person and there was no way that anyone else would be coming along to snatch Mark out of his life. That would’ve sounded conceited to some people, perhaps, but it was just one thing that made Ethan happy, to know that Mark was his and only his. And it was the same the other way around too - he didn’t even look at other people anymore, hadn’t in a long time. All he cared about was Mark. “I’ve got another idea - why don’t we ask each other at the same time?”

“Okay, okay,” Mark gave in, sliding a hand up and to the back of Ethan’s neck, then pressed a kiss to the top of his head, “After 3… 1, 2, 3 -”

_ “Will you be my boyfriend?” _

The fact that they’d managed to get the question out in perfect sync with each other had them both giggling, clutching onto each other’s shoulders, and Ethan lifted his head to get a look at the way Mark’s face lit up with each bout of laughter.

“ _ Yes,” _ they both answered, again at the same time, and their laughter became louder, and Ethan was pretty sure he was going to get a stitch at some point. Both of their faces were tinted red with joint elation at the milestone they’d reached together. But they also both realised that their agreement to go slow had lasted no more than two weeks, which only had them laughing even more. Once they’d both mostly calmed down, Ethan wiped tears from his eyes, shaking his head and then grinning, “We’re the most ridiculous couple I’ve ever heard of, you know that?”

Mark gave a shrug, head cocked to one side as he smiled up at Ethan, “Yeah, but are you really surprised? It’s  _ you _ and  _ me _ . Couldn’t possibly be anything other than ridiculous. Now,  _ boyfriend _ , I think we should get on that Q&A video, don’t you? I wanna know what  _ juicy _ questions everyone comes up with. Should be fun. Why don’t you get on twitter and gather questions and I’ll set up the recording room?”

“Okay, but maybe you should retweet me so you can reach your followers too and we can get more of a variety of questions?” Ethan suggested, getting up off of Mark and plopping down next to him on the sofa. He pulled out his phone to begin tweeting, only to have Mark’s phone chucked into his lap too. 

Glancing up, he watched as Mark unlocked it for him and then grinned, heading to the stairs, “Retweet it yourself. I’m gonna go set up!” And with that, he was up off the stairs to get to work in the recording room.

As Ethan looked down at Mark’s phone in his lap, he tapped on the twitter icon, but he felt his face heating up and his heart beginning to beat faster. The fact that Mark trusted him enough to just  _ hand _ his phone over to him, no rules or objections to having full access to one of his private possessions, was one of the most sincere things he’d ever experienced. And suddenly it hit him - this was what their life was going to be like. They were  _ together,  _ they’d just asked each other to be boyfriends. And he knew that he would be more than happy to hand his phone over to Mark unlocked and let him browse through it to his heart’s content. In fact, he’d do the same with any and every part of his life. Even his browser history! And so, he tweeted out on his own account: ‘ _ Yooooo me and Mark need help with the next Unus Annus video! We’re gonna try out what it’s like to do a couples’ Q&A so hit us with the cringiest questions you can think of. Use the hashtag #KissMyAnnus. GO!’  _ Then, he moved to Mark’s twitter timeline, refreshed to see his tweet, then retweeted it. Already, within seconds, there were questions pouring in and so he scurried upstairs to Mark’s recording room to show him his phone, “Mark, look! It’s already blowing up. We need to start recording, like, now.”

Mark’s eyes popped as he glanced just for a moment, then nodded and fiddled about with some of the lights, opting for shades of blue and red to mingle in the background of the video. The camera on top of his computer monitor was raring to go and all of the software on the computer was loaded. Ethan fired up twitter and searched #KissMyAnnus and they got into position in front of the camera, then began filming.

“So, Ethan, light of my life, sugarplum, hunny bun, sweetie pie…” Mark began rambling, holding a hand out towards Ethan dramatically, only to have Ethan interrupt the stream of pet names.

“Oh god, Mark, please, not in front of the fans!” Ethan put a hand over his face and shook his head. When he pulled the hand away, he saw that Mark had leaned close to him, their faces inches apart, and he was putting on his most over the top pleading eyes.

“But  _ shnuckums!  _ I want to show the world just how much I  _ adore  _ you!”

Ethan was trying  _ so hard _ not to kiss the stupid look off of Mark’s face, but he knew that they had to wait until the right moment to reveal that they were in fact a real couple. He didn’t want to spoil the timing. So instead he pulled a face and playfully shoved Mark back to his normal recording spot in front of the camera, “Stop! We’ve got questions to answer, remember? #KissMyAnnus? You’ve gotta answer all of these questions honestly, Mark, because everyone wants to know everything about their favourite couple. Now, I’ve got the hashtag up, so we’re gonna start off wiiiith,” he laughed as he found the perfect beginner question, “Mark, what’s one thing that Ethan’s better at than you?”

Mark scoffed at his choice, moving to peer at the screen to make sure it was an actual question, not just one he’d made up, “What kinda question is that, @cheezeaintreal_ ? I’m better at  _ everything.  _ I’m  _ The  _ Markiplier, Ethan’s not better than me at  _ anything. _ ”

Ethan rolled his eyes at the camera, crossing his arms over his chest, “I know there’s definitely one thing I’m better at than you. I hate to bring it up but needs must.”

“Pfft, there’s no such thing. What is this magical ability you speak of?” Mark scoffed again, puffing out his chest as he faced Ethan, then looked at the camera and rolled his eyes.

“Well, Mark, when was the last time you did a backflip?” Ethan asked with a wide, sly grin on his face.

Mark simply sniffed, looking unfazed as he shrugged his shoulders, “When was the last time  _ you  _ did a backflip?”

“C’mon, Mark, just admit it - I can do a backflip and you can’t,” Ethan snickered with laughter, seeing one of Mark’s eyes twitching as he said it.

With a deep breath Mark suddenly moved to scroll the mouse wheel and he began speaking overly-loudly, “Ah, next question - shall we take it in turns to choose, darling?” He fluttered his eyelashes at Ethan before turning back to the question, “Ethan, what’s the cutest thing that Mark has ever done for you?” After reading the question, Mark leaned his elbow on the desk, and his chin rested in the palm of his hand as he smiled at Ethan beside him, “What a great question, @_purple12daze!”

Ethan had to bite the inside of his mouth as he watched the twinkling in Mark’s eyes, and instead of coming up with a witty retort which he was obviously trying to goad him into, he stared off into the distance, a hand on his chin as he pretended to think about it. “That  _ is  _ a good question - I think the cutest thing Mark’s ever done for me was... okay, lemme set the scene. So, we’re done filming one day, and it’s my turn to edit the footage but I’m  _ really _ sick, which Mark notices…” He watched as Mark’s face morphed into one of confusion as to where he was going with this, which only encouraged him further, “When I tell him I’m sick, he was  _ so sweet _ , you guys! Because he said to me, ‘Hey Ethan, you know what? Don’t worry about the editing. I know I usually expect it within an hour but, since you’re not well, I’ll give you an extra ten minutes so you can relax.’ Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever heard? And people say Mark’s a workaholic! Psh, yeah right!”

Mark had a hand over his face and he was shaking his head, but Ethan could see just slightly that he was grinning underneath it all. And that was only proven when he dropped the hand to point a finger at him, grin still on his face, “You smartass. For that, you’re not even getting an hour next time!”

Ethan giggled and poked his tongue out at him, “Sorry, Papa Bear. I like to give as well as take.” To which he comedically did an over-exaggerated wink at the camera and Mark rolled his eyes, pretending to gag by sticking his fingers down his throat. 

However, once they’d both calmed down from those first two questions, they both knew it was time for serious business. From now on they’d be answering in all honesty and would lead up to the reveal of their relationship. Wanting to keep the video lighthearted, Ethan bent at the waist to lean on the desk in front of them, and he wiggled his backside as he grinned up at Mark, which had the older man pressing his lips together to try and not indulge him with laughter. Instead, he jabbed a finger in the direction of the mouse, one eyebrow raising in defiance, “Quit your temptations, wicked seductress, and continue with the task at hand!”

With an exaggerated sigh, Ethan began to scroll through the tag, lips pursing in a pout and he glanced at Mark every so often with puppy dog eyes, “Don’t pretend you don’t like it, babe. Okay, let’s actually answer seriously now. Next question… For the both of you - what was your first date like? From @LifeonMarssx. Another good question! I’ll go first, shall I? Okay, sooooo our first date was…” He let his mind drift back to the night in question, a smile making its way onto his face, “Magical. Mark asked me to dinner and I was expecting dinner in a restaurant, but of course I shouldn’t have expected something so  _ normal.  _ In a good way! So, he had a table and fairylights set up on a hill overlooking the city, and guys - it was so beautiful! The view was amazing - and Mark didn’t look so bad either.” He looked up at the man in question to grin cheekily, to which he fondly rolled his eyes and smiled. “ _ And _ his mom’s friends made us Korean food which was  _ so good _ . Honestly, it was one of the best nights of my life so far… Mark? Anything to add?”

To which he shook his head, considering the question but he gave a smile, “Think you covered it all perfect. Oh, wait! One important thing you left out - Ethan bought me blue roses which he ended up sitting on and flattening in the passenger seat of my car.” At the reminder, Ethan groaned, and Mark carried on with a laugh, “But it’s alright, wait!” He suddenly ran out of the room, reappearing within moments, and there was a clear resin block in his hands which had those same blue roses pressed inside. “They sit on my bedside table now, and they’ll last forever this way.” Ethan’s eyes softened at the thought, and he had to fight hard not to pull Mark in for a fiery kiss - they didn’t need to get off in front of the camera, after all.

“Which was my plan the whole time,” Ethan retorted, straightening up and shooting finger guns at Mark with a cheeky grin.

“Uh huh, sure,” Mark rolled his eyes fondly again (which seemed to be the running theme of the video) before setting the pressed rose block on the desk, visible in the view of the camera on purpose. “Okay, time for me to choose a question again, hmm… Aha! For both of you, what animal would you choose for the other’s patronus and why?  _ Amazing  _ question, @thegnarglesdidit - and amazing username too! I guess I’ll go first?” Crossing his arms over his chest, Mark turned to look at Ethan and narrowed his eyes in thought, but it didn’t take him long to come up with his answer, to which he grinned. It had Ethan feeling a little like he was under examination, to be honest. Mark turned back to the camera, still grinning as he gave his answer, “Ethan’s patronus would be a golden retriever. And before you all come at me saying I’m wrong and that doesn’t suit him…” He cleared his throat, eyes going warm as he looked at Ethan now, “Your Patronus is supposed to represent the one thing that makes you most happy - that’s why wizards cast it against dementors, so as to banish the darkness surrounding them. For example, Tonks’ patronus became a wolf because Lupin made her happier than anything. Nothing to do with her personality, all to do with her happiness. So… Ethan’s is a golden retriever. Not to toot my own horn, but I would say from recent events that I make Ethan the most happy so it would make sense for the animal I chose to have in my life and who we’ve shared so many memories with to be his patronus.”

For the second time that day, Ethan was speechless. At first, he’d also been ready to question Mark’s choice, but to hear the reasoning behind it had his heart pounding with adoration for this man. He stared at him, face going warm, and had to drop his head to watch the floor because he was all of a sudden super embarrassed at just how true it was. Mark  _ did _ make him happier than anything and anyone else, so his choice of patronus made complete sense. Biting his bottom lip, he looked back up and saw Mark grinning at him, eyes sparkling with amusement. “Well damn,” Ethan said between giggles, “I was gonna say yours is Chica too, but it was to do with your personality. Wow, am I a fake Harry Potter fan or what?”

“No, Eth, it’s easy to forget! Most people assume it’s similar to the way the sorting hat works. But I appreciate that you think I’m like Chica,” he tipped his head back with a laugh, only to shake his head and walk over to press a kiss to Ethan’s forehead.

“Well then, in that case, based on happiness, I’d say your patronus would take the form of Spencer!” Ethan said defiantly, grinning up at him, “Pretty much for the same reasons you gave. I make you the happiest.”

Mark gave a sincere, sweet smile, eyes crinkling at the corners as he nodded his agreement and then lifted a hand to ruffle Ethan’s hair - just to keep the light-hearted spirit of the video. “That you do. Alright, your turn for the next question.”

They continued working their way through a good twenty or so more questions before they mutually came to a stop and needed to do an outro. For this, Ethan wasn’t entirely sure what they should do. Their answers to the questions had all but outed them as a couple but they needed to explicitly say it so that anyone who hadn’t been paying attention would get it, and also just so that Mark’s management team could calm down and stop harassing them. He looked over at Mark and his face must have told him that he was clueless as to what to say to finish up this video because Mark gave him a wink. One eyebrow lifted in curiosity, Ethan watched as he sidled closer to him and wrapped an arm around his waist so they were both hip to hip, facing the camera. “So,” Mark began, voice a little softer than was the norm for his on screen self, “We hope you guys enjoyed the Q&A and the peek behind the door into our lives together off camera. Thank you for the  _ interesting _ array of questions and - in advance - thank you for supporting our relationship. We both just wanna enjoy our new life together and everything that’s to come. We both appreciate all of you so much and we wouldn’t have had the opportunities to do the things we’ve done without you, and so we’ll forever be grateful...”

To which, Ethan cut in, “In fact!” He lowered his voice, going soft as this time he looked at Mark, heart fluttering when he turned to look back at him, “We wouldn’t have found each other if it wasn’t for you guys, in a way. So yeah…” He turned back to the camera and gave a warm, beaming smile, “Thank you so much!”

...

Later that night, after the video was uploaded to both of their channels, Ethan sat curled up to Mark on his sofa in the den as they loaded up Mario Kart to play. As Mark sipped his can of coke, Ethan was scrolling through the comments on the video on his channel, feeling his heart warm at the love they were getting. He showed Mark some of them, to which he smiled, hugging him close and kissing his forehead, “Now there’s really no turning back, Nestor. You’re stuck with me forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> You may have noticed that I have no clue what breed of dog Spencer is so I somehow managed to dodge that ;)  
> I hope you all enjoyed this little addition to the universe and more is definitely on the way.  
> If you want updates on what I'm writing, I now have a tumblr! It's pure-shores.tumblr.com so come say hiiiii!  
> And, lastly, if you have any ideas as to what you wanna see these idiots do, leave a comment and I'll have a look. Thanks for reading and have a good day!


End file.
